Watch Out, We're Mad [...altrimenti ci arrabbiamo! (1974)] - Soundtrack

New addition to the collection.

Although the English language title of this energetic and delightful action comedy, starring the popular duo of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer, is Watch Out, We're Mad. Its original Italian title is ...altrimenti ci arrabbiamo! [Otherwise we'll get mad]. Which means that this disc will be filed under A, rather than W, and, since I am currently on the letter C of my collection, this oddity gets to cut in line. Because A has already been done and, well, alphabetical order.

Watch Out, We're Mad is the kind of film that Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, and Hal Needham thought they were (and should have been) making. Hill and Spencer are two affable and intensely competitive racers that have tied for first place. Which means they have to share the grand prize, a red and yellow dune buggy.

Yeah, right. Their playful games to decide who will win the dune buggy are interrupted when the car is stolen and destroyed by a local crime boss. Irritated and determined to get a replacement red and yellow dune buggy, so they can continue their challenges to see who will win said buggy, the duo confront the crime boss...

What follows are well choreographed fight scenes and car chases. There is also a comedically hammy performance from Donald Pleasance that needs to be seen to be believed.

Underplaying it all is this quirky score from the pop duo of Guido & Maurizio De Angelis, who I know best for their score for Great White [aka The Last Shark, L'ultimo Squalo (1981)]. Be forewarned though, you will be hearing and humming their song "Dune Buggy" incessantly afterward, as it is both a pesky earworm and underplays just about each and every action sequence. Of which there are a sizable amount.
 

Count Dracula [il Conte Dracula (1970)] - Soundtrack

Although the film Bruno Nicolai composed this excellent music for was first released in 1970. A soundtrack LP of Nicolai's score would not be released until 1982. Twelve years later, that same album recording would get reissued on compact disc, with an additional 10 previously unpublished tracks. This 2021 disc is a remaster and reissue of the latter and a welcome addition to my collection.

When I checked the IMDB I found that Christopher Lee was in a total of nine films that had 1970 as the registered year of release. Three of those films were Dracula movies. Two of them were Hammer Film productions. The first being Taste the Blood of Dracula, which was the last film, at that time, to have a narrative connection to the entry that preceded it. Seeing that it picked up right where Dracula Has Risen from the Grave had ended. The second Hammer offering was the far inferior, I think, Scars of Dracula.

Count Dracula, an offering from Spanish director Jesús [Jess] Franco, would be the third time Lee would play the legendary vampire on the big screen in the year 1970. The lure here seems to have been an intention stated by the filmmaker(s) to hew closer to the narrative of Bram Stoker's novel than any other film had, up to that point.

While I have seen, and enjoyed, Franco's more Universal Monster mash styled (and almost dialogue free) Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein (1972), which also used this score. Count Dracula remains a vacancy in my viewing history. One that I hope to rectify, sooner rather than later.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) - Soundtrack

While I do not dislike the fifth and final film in the first round of Planet of the Apes movies. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, the fourth film in the original franchise, is considered to be the last of the truly good ones. Or, at the very least, the last one where the creative team appeared to have made a game effort at having detectable level of creative quality and energy.

Due to the lower than hoped for box office returns on the modest-budgeted Escape from the Planet of the Apes. Conquest was given a smaller budget for its ambitious concept, dramatizing the uprising that would result in the creation of the world and society of the first two films.

Because the budget was low, neither Jerry Goldsmith, who had scored the first and third film, nor Leonard Rosenman, who had scored the second, were approached to compose music for this entry. Instead, on the recommendation of Lionel Newman, Fox's head of music, Tom Scott was hired to score the film.

Faced with a tight post-production schedule, Scott asked fellow composition Lalo Schifrin for advice.

"There was no time to write the sort of full-on orchestral battle scene that I really would have like to do." Scott recalls in the liner noters for the Film Score Monthly release. "Lalo said I should do a row of orchestral events. This was something I had heard him do in other pictures. You'd have ten seconds, for example, of all the woodwinds playing a low, atonal growl, and then you'd have another wall of muted brass playing high, fast staccato notes, and paint these little tone pictures, and that would get you through a great deal of the drama and give the impression that something was going on without having to kill yourself composing and orchestrating."

One thing Scott did not foresee was how the film, which had been shot in a semi-documentary style, would struggle with its harsh tone being a hindrance to maintaining a family friendly rating. Of the first five films, this was only one not to be awarded a G-rating.

Because of all the retooling, most of Scott's score for the film went unused and, in some instances, was replaced with tracks from Goldsmith's score for the first film. Which explains why I do not remember or recall a great deal of music from this particular release.

Congo (1995) - Soundtrack

Despite my having purchased the mass market paperback edition of Michael Crichton's Congo, when it first hit the shelves of our local Waldenbooks, way back in the fall of 1981, I would not read the novel until the mid-90s. Well after having devoured both Jurassic Park and, I think, Sphere. So it goes.

Congo was a fun read and this long-gestating film adaptation, on paper, looked to be just my thing. Director/producer Frank Marshall, who had produced Jurassic Park, was coming off of both Arachnophobia, which I had seen on the big screen and loved, and Alive, which I had seen on home video and enjoyed. The script was penned by John Patrick Shanley, an Academy Award winning writer. Creature creator extraordinaire Stan Winston was tasked with creating both Amy and the albino gorillas. The score was composed by one of my all time favorite composers, Jerry Goldsmith.

Oh, and Bruce Campbell also had a small role in the film. How could this movie miss?

Well, if the lackluster to scathing reviews are to be believed, Congo missed by a country mile. Oops. So I passed on seeing it on the big screen and, because of the non-ending distractions of life, never got around to seeing more than a few clips from the film. What little I saw gave me the feeling that I was not missing out on all that much. Could be wrong, though. Might still give the movie Congo a shot. Maybe. I have no idea.

But I did nab this expanded release of Jerry Goldsmith's score for the film and am very grateful for having done so.

The liner notes penned by Jeff Bond detail Goldsmith's long history of collaborating with Crichton. Goldsmith scored Crichton's first film as a director, a 1972 TV-movie titled Pursuit, as well as two popular theatrical releases from 1978, Coma and The Great Train Robbery. Bond also notes how Goldsmith's score for Congo reflects the composer's conscious decision to work with directors new to him, to better invigorate his creative process and output.

Goldsmith was brought onboard when James Newton Howard was forced off the project by a scheduling conflict. South African composer and performer Lebo M, who had done some preliminary work with Howard, stayed onboard to work with Goldsmith and the result is a bright opening theme. One that Bond describes as being "counterintuitive" to a quasi-monster movie about mutant gorillas.

"...the choice reflect[s] Goldsmith's desire to avoid the obvious," Bond opines. "[To] find the lyrical element of a genre film."

While there is ample warmth surrounding the character of Amy, the intelligent ape that both anchors and bridges the adventure yarn's fantastical elements, Goldsmith does not skimp on the action-adventure sonic fireworks.

The end result is an entertaining listening experience that makes me think I should sit down and watch the damn movie.

Conan The Destroyer (1984) - Soundtrack

While I did not enjoy Conan the Barbarian all that much I did feel something of an obligation to subject myself to its sequel, Conan the Destroyer. What I did not expect was to enjoy it as much as I did.

As dour and colorless as I found the first film to be, this much brighter and far more family friendly entry turned out to be more to my liking. At least at the time of my one and only viewing of the film.

To save money, of course, the production had intended to recycle the first film's iconic score. Yet the tonal differences between the dour seriousness of the first film and the overt comic book adventurism of the second turned out to be a incompatible, so Basil Poledouris was brought back to provide a lighter, zestier score.

While the music for Conan the Destroyer might not be as iconic or impressive as what was composed for Conan the Barbarian, it is still provides a vibrant and entertaining listening experience.

The Baby (1973) - Soundtrack

New addition to the collection.

Renting and watching The Baby, back in the early-to-mid 1980s, with absolutely no idea as to what to expect from it was a memorable experience, to be sure.

I picked it up because it was directed by Ted Post, a name I knew from two Clint Eastwood films (Hang 'Em High and Magnum Force), the first sequel to the original Planet of the Apes (Beneath the Planet of the Apes), and an early Chuck Norris flick (Good Guys Wear Black). So I knew the chances of it being good (i.e. competently made) were better than average.

What I most remember about my viewing of The Baby was being utterly gobsmacked by the ending, which, thanks in very large part to Gerald Fried's haunting score, both creeped me out and broke my heart. While I know that opinions on whether or not the ending to the film qualifies as tragic or happy can differ greatly, I lean toward the former and not the latter.

This limited edition release from Caldera includes an informative and insightful audio interview with the late Gerald Fried, who passed in 2023, that sheds some intriguing light on his approach to this rather unique film.

The interviewer describes the score as mono-thematic, in that it is built around a singular theme. Meaning that, rather than create separate themes for both the protagonist and the antagonist(s), Fried created a theme for Baby and would alter it according to the various characters 'distorted definition' (or twisted viewpoint) of Baby when needed.

Although all I truly remembered of the score from my one and only viewing 40+ year ago was from the film's ending, which is Track #19, Pool Games, on this soundtrack release. I am very happy to have added this cult oddity's entire score to my collection.

Conan The Barbarian (1982) - Soundtrack

Here is an admission that might bring some heat from certain corners of fandom or the broader internet. I do not care all that much for the film Conan The Barbarian. While it does have its moments and elements that work for me, I also found the sum total of all those moments and elements dour and over serious. This might have to do with the simple fact that, as much as I admire John Milius as a screenwriter, I just do not connect with his work as a director. I also found the original Red Dawn to be a chore of a downer to sit through. Your mileage will vary, of course.

While the film itself might leave me feeling underwhelmed, the same cannot be said for the score for it that was composed and conducted by the late, great Basil Poledouris. It is a pulse pounding, fist pumping work of energy that will make just about anybody that listens to it want to pick up a sword and start swinging.

The film's Main Title, known as Anvil of Crom, is an undisputed masterwork, but I am just as fond of the Bolero-styled track The Kitchen/The Orgy, which is on the second disc of this three CD special edition set released by Intrada.

Bug (1975) - Soundtrack

New addition to the collection.

Although I recognize the name Charles Fox, I think his atonal electronic score for the William Castle produced and Jeannot Szwarc directed "killer bug" movie might mark his official entry into my ever growing collection of horror, science fiction, and fantasy centered movie soundtracks.

That a composter renowned for crafting memorable melodies such as the 1972's chart-topper "Killing Me Softly With His Song" and catchy themes for numerous television series, such as Wonder Woman, The Love Boat, and Happy Days, could and would compose something as strange and otherworldly sounding as the music for Bug only serves as another fine example of his sizable and inarguable talent.

The alien soundscape Fox crafted for Bug is a chilling experience in un-easy listening. Relaxing this is not...

And now I want to watch the movie again.

Commando (1985) - Soundtrack

Jeff Bond's liner note describes James Horner's score for Commando as "exchanging the thematic, leitmotif aspect of his symphonic scores for a style that was as single-minded as John Matrix's pursuit of his daughter..."

The core elements of Horner's score for the film are used to great effect in the film's robust and memorable Main Title. Bond lists those elements as "pulsating electronica riffs, crashing Simmons drums, a growl of no-nonsense orchestral menace from low brass, a calypso-like steel drum tune, an undulating, almost breezy saxophone riff and the exotic sound of Japanese shakuhachi flute."

One thing I feel compelled to note, or point out, is that the score's "no-nonsense brass" and "calypso-like steel drum" textures and flourishes sound very much like the brass and steel drum textures and flourishes Horner composed for 1982's 48hrs. Something not at all surprising considering Horner's well known, and self-admitted, habit of reusing his past compositions. That observation is in no way meant to disparage Horner's superlative work here and elsewhere. It was part of his process and good music is good music, period.

The Main Title also contains a brief and gentle melody, played by the orchestra's string instruments, heard during a montage of scenes showing the loving bond between father and daughter. It only appears here and nowhere else in the movie.

What follows the Main Title is some fifty-plus minutes of gnashing and grinding action cues. "Horner's score becomes the musical equivalent of Schwarzenegger's stone face as the movie progresses," Bond observes in his notes. "It is largely unvarying, but it gains power through sheer repetition, reinforcing Matrix's unstoppable determination."

Coma (1978) - Soundtrack

While Goldsmith's tense and icy score for Michael Crichton's film adaptation of Robin Cook' best-selling medical thriller Coma may not be one of his most memorable, it does serve as an excellent example of how less can be so much more. Since the first half of the film features no underscore whatsoever.

The liner notes for this Bay Cities Compact Disc note how Goldsmith's "ornate use of harps, bells, and dissonant piano" recalls his famous score for the classic episode of TheTwilight Zone, The Invaders. While other sections feature "dark, somber string passages that give way to explosive percussion effects and distorted violins" that sound "like a dry-run" for ideas Goldsmith would expand upon in his brilliant (and for the most part unused) score for Alien (1979).

Also included on this reissue of the 1978 album are two pieces of period appropriate disco-themed ephemera. One is a disco version of Goldsmith's love theme for the film. The other is Disco Strut, an unrelated chunk of album padding that was composed by Don Peake (The Hills Have Eyes and The People Under the Stairs, more on these scores later).

Colossal (2016) - Soundtrack

A dark comedy wherein giant monsters act as the embodiment of addiction and abuse? Sign me up!

Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis both shine as damaged people that have very different reactions to learning they have giant monster avatars capable of wreaking havoc, destruction, and, of course, death in South Korea, of all places.

Bear McCreary's excellent score, like the film itself, is all over the place, by design. While there are grand orchestral flourishes worthy of a giant monster movie, most of the score is as quiet and uneasy as Hathaway and Sudeikis' characters. Because, despite its giant monster flourishes, Colossal is a lot more grounded and human than one would think.

All that having been said, it should come as no surprise whatsoever that my favorite track is #6 - The Most Irresponsible Thing. I think it is a perfect underscore for a truly unsettling moment when an abuser gets to flaunt and flex the power he has over the abused to someone incapable of either challenging or neutralizing that power.

Clash of the Titans (1981) - Soundtrack

One of the few Laurence Rosenthal scores I have in my collection. The other one, also from Intrada, is the soundtrack for Meteor.

Turns out there was a solid reason for why Rosenthal's name and work is not all that familiar to me, then and now. Most of his work appears to have been for television and period dramas. Which is not my usual viewing of choice. Although he did compose the theme to Fantasy Island and the score for the 1977 version of The Island of Dr. Moreau.

His score for Clash of the Titans is superb and has me wishing he had been able to work in the arena of fantastic cinema more often.

City Hall (1996) - Soundtrack

Although I do remember the theatrical release of this 1996 melodrama, I have not seen it. Film's like City Hall were just not in my interest wheelhouse at that particular time. Just one of countless examples of films that slipped through the cracks and were fast buried underneath the sands of time. So it goes.

When Varèse Sarabande released this deluxe edition of Jerry Goldsmith's score, I picked it up. Yes, Goldsmith might have grumbled (good-naturedly or otherwise) about my desire to collect every note of his score like bottle caps, but I like what I like and I want what I want. So it goes.

Tim Greiving's liner notes reveal that Goldsmith drew his inspiration from Leonard Bernstein's only film score, for On the Waterfront (1954). Greiving describes that score a featuring a "lonely, bluesy French horn and a percussive rumble." Elements that Goldsmith put to very good use for his brief 34 minute score for City Hall.

Christine (1983) - Soundtrack

With no liner notes to crib some kind of commentary from, I am left with an observation fueled by an anecdote.

Way back in the late 80's or very early 90's, a friend shared that he had struck up a conversation with a fellow film student that was studying film composition. The usual suspects were discussed, of course. Some were singled out for praise by this nameless student (Bernard Herrmann, Jerry Goldsmith, etc.), while others were dismissed as being unexceptional hacks (Pino Donaggio and Richard Band).

When my friend brought up the film scores of John Carpenter, this student's response leaned toward dismissal. While some of Carpenter's work might be iconic, overall his compositions were hampered by what he called a lack of musicality. Whatever that meant (or means)...

Which is just my longwinded introduction to help explain why, as much as I adore John Carpenter's iconic themes and soundscapes, I think his score for Christine is one of his most formless and, truth be told, unmemorable works.

Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, and Escape from New York were all blessed with themes that, in their own idiosyncratic way, were every bit as memorable as what John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith had been composing during that same period of time. I will even go so far as to put Chariots of Pumpkins from Halloween III Season of the Witch on that list, because it is as identifiable as those other aforementioned themes.

Yet this Carpenter/Howarth joint for Christine lacks a memorable central theme, at least on the original score front. Christine's defining and iconic theme is Bad to the Bone, by George Thorogood & The Destroyers, which fits the feel, tone, and style of the film like a glove. 

So does Carpenter/Howarth's compositions Arnie's Love Theme, Obsessed with the Car, The Rape, and Christine Attacks (Plymouth Fury). Yet, while they are easy enough to recognize as the work of John Carpenter, when in association with Alan Howarth, they also lack a certain creative zest. They sound good, but there is nothing about them that ever stuck in my heart or my memory.

Perhaps this was the result of Carpenter's dour post-Thing temperament, as Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness, and They Live all had memorable themes. Even if they did lack that pesky element of "musicality" the unknown (to me) film student pointed out, so many years ago...

The Chosen [aka Rain of Fire, aka Holocaust 2000 (1977)] - Soundtrack

Seeing The Chosen on the big screen in 1977 or '78 was one the many memorable experiences I had at the Southshore Cinema in Alameda. The rudiments of the plot were easy enough for my ten-year-old brain to follow, a well-meaning industrialist (Kirk Douglas) becomes plagued by prophetic visions warning that the nuclear power plant he is building will become the biblical beast the book of revelation describes as empowering the Anti-Christ.

This is the literal embodiment of...

If that were not horrifying enough, Douglas learns that his character's beloved son Angel (Simon Ward) is the Anti-Christ itself.

THIS!!!

As far as cash grab knock-offs go, The Chosen is a decent enough one of The Omen. It has a smattering of gruesome, heavy-handed 'accidents' dispatching anyone and everyone that dares even consider getting in the way of the plant's construction. It also beats The Final Conflict (1981) to the mass infanticide punch, with a really twisted sequence set in a maternity ward.

Fabio Babini's liner notes for this expanded release, which are in both Italian and English, lavish praise upon Ennio Morricone's atmospheric, albeit a tad repetitious, score.

Babini describes the "key warning signs of the tonal Morricone: the serial rhythm and pressing of the piano pedal, the minor-key orchestral introductions, yearning to touch the soul but keeping a safe distance from any temptation toward cloying sentimentality, the harmonious crescendo almost it leading [sic] to a clash of sound masses, sometimes supported at a distance by a kicking bass." Damn, that is one hyper-descriptive mouthful of lavish praise there.

Mention is also made of Morricone "retaining the traits absolutely recognizable at first listen." Something to which, as undereducated as I am in the parlance of compositional technique and style, I heartily concur. There are rhythmic flourishes that I can hear echoed in Morricone's scores for The Untouchables (1987) and Phantom of the Opera (1999), as well minor-key orchestral passages that likewise echo sections of Morricone's scores for Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), Orca (1977), and The Island (1980).

I am not saying these echoes feel or sound as if Morricone were reusing or recycling material, an approach that James Horner admitted to, only that I can recognize his compositional style. Morricone's is scores have become as easy for me to identify as those written by either John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith. 

Chinatown (1974) - Soundtrack

I have come to theorize, and feel free to poke as many holes in this as you might deem necessary, that just about every film contains a clarifying mission statement that explains, or defines, its core themes to its attentive viewer(s).

Chinatown's mission statement might be when Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) tells Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway), "I was trying to protect someone from being hurt, ended up helping her get hurt."

Reading Kevin Mulhall's liner notes for this compact disc re-issue of the original soundtrack album offered some interesting facts and trivia.

Jerry Goldsmith was a last last-minute replacement and had all of ten days to spot, write and record a score for the film.

"I got a flash of the orchestral fabric," Goldsmith says in the notes. "I had no idea musically what it was going to be but there was a sound... I wanted strings, four pianos, four harps, two percussionists, and a trumpet."

Oh, what a trumpet...

Being the original album, this release combines cues and/or uses alternate takes different from those used in the film for 'better' listening. Although the complete film score has been made available, I have yet to make an upgrade. I am satisfied with this presentation.

Child's Play 2 (1990) - Soundtrack

Although I had gone and seen the first Child's Play movie on the big screen, it had not impressed me all that much. So when Child's Play 2 arrived between Halloween and Thanksgiving in 1990, I gave it a pass. On the big screen, at least. But when I snagged a look on home video, I was made to regret skipping that big screen viewing. Because screenwriter, and Chucky creator, Don Mancini and directer John Lafia had delivered a sequel that, unlike the first film, was both entertaining and surprising. Until Seed of Chucky popped out, I think Child's Play 2 might have been my favorite entry in the franchise.

Composer Graeme Revell, flush from his success scoring Philip Noyce's breakout hit Dead Calm, had emigrated from New Zealand to the United States, in the hope of launching a career as a film composer. It was Don Mancini that brought Revell to the attention of producer David Kirschner.

And it was Revell that suggested an orchestral score for the film. When asked if he had any experience composing for orchestra, Revell lied and told them, "Yes!"

"When the orchestra played [the Main Title] the first time," Revell says in the liner notes for this La-La Land release, "it was a total mess." Dismayed at how the composition sounded nothing at all like he had intended, Revell thought, "my career was over."

Walker conducted another read of the Main Title and, this time, it sounded perfect.

While I don't find this score to be as memorable as some others, it nonetheless does find a way to balance between the serious aspects of the film and its tongue-in-cheek self-awareness. Even if Revell himself had his doubts, back in the day.

"At times I felt like I was trying to be [Looney Tunes composer] Carl Stalling and failing," he says in the liner notes. Well, he did not fail. He nailed it.

Chato's Land (1972) - Soundtrack

Jerry Fielding's score for Chato's Land, the first pairing (of six) of star Charles Bronson with director Michael Winner, is as dark and difficult as the film itself. The composer's creative affinity toward dissonance and atonality allows for the perfect underscore as the anger and tension seething onscreen builds to outbursts of brutal violence (a Winner trademark).

This score came during one of Fielding's most blistering creative streaks, which occurred in 1971 and '72. During this period he composed the scores for eight feature films, two made-for-television movies, a whopping ten television pilots, and multiple episodes of regular television. It seems that the scarring left by being blacklisted instilled in Fielding a terror of not being able to work, making him incapable of turning down any and all job offers.

The late Nick Redman, in his reprinted liner notes for this Intrada reissue, singles out Fielding's Main Title for praise, pointing out how it moves from a forceful melody into strange and worrying percussion that is indicative of the merciless brutality that is to come.

Redman describes Fielding's overall work here as "rough-hewn, pitiless, without mercy" and I agree. It is a dark and brooding listening experience that unsettles every bit as much as it impresses.

The Changeling (1980) - Soundtrack

Three separate composers worked on The Changeling. Howard Blake composed the Music Box Theme, which serves as an integral part of the film's storyline. Ken Wannberg was hired to compose the score, while Rick Wilkins was hired as a Canadian front in order for the production to qualify for some tax credits.

Although most of the score used in the film was composed by Wannberg, Wilkins did compose the underscore for the film's unnerving seance sequence.

"We needed a scary score," says Wannberg in Randall Larson's liner notes. "But not one that was pure scary." Wannberg and Wilkins achieved this by excising the trumpets and trombones from the orchestra, which created a somewhat off-kilter tonality within the music. The overall effect of their score is both soft and unnerving. The eschewing of aggressive jolts and jump scare stingers makes for a listening experience that is equal parts pleasant and spooky.

I consider the soundtrack for The Changeling to be one of the highpoints of my collection.

Catch Me If You Can (1989) - Soundtrack

The liner notes for this limited edition release from BSX Records is rather light on any and all information about this 1989 feature film that, prior to seeing this album being made available, I had never heard of. Not that my ignorance of its existence means anything about the quality of the film.

Catch Me If You Can (1989) served as the feature film debut of Stephen Sommers, who I know best for writing and directing monster-laden fare such as Deep Rising (1998), The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns (2001), and Van Helsing (2004).

My reason for purchasing this album was simple. Tangerine Dream provided the score and I have been a fan of the group since 1981, when Michael Mann's Thief (1981) first exposed me to their unique and addictive sound.

Although I still have yet to see the actual film, I am enjoying listening to the peppy music Tangerine Dream composed and performed for it.